Shanghai Disney resort to open in 2015
May 24, 2013, 9:37 am

A rendering of a castle at the Shanghai Disney Resort in Shanghai, east China [Xinhua]

The word’s sixth Disney amusement park and the first on the Chinese mainland is scheduled to open in Shanghai at the end of 2015.

The amusement park will cover an area of 1.16 square km, inside the 3.9 square km Shanghai Disney Resort.

Shanghai boasts of a burgeoning middle class and a huge population of more than 25 million.

The resort will initially be comprised of Shanghai Disneyland, a Magic-Kingdom-style park as well as two themed hotels, a large retail, dining and entertainment venue, recreational facilities, a lake and transportation hubs.

A large transport terminal will also be built alongside the Shanghai Disney Resort at a cost of 217 million yuan ($35 million).

57 founding members, many of them prominent US allies, will sign into creation the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Monday, the first major global financial instrument independent from the Bretton Woods system.

Representatives of the countries will meet in Beijing on Monday to sign an agreement of the bank, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. All the five BRICS countries are also joining the new infrastructure investment bank.

The agreement on the $100 billion AIIB will then have to be ratified by the parliaments of the founding members, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing in Beijing.

The AIIB is also the first major multilateral development bank in a generation that provides an avenue for China to strengthen its presence in the world’s fastest-growing region.